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Hairy women, dog boot camps and penises were just some of the obscure subjects picked by BBC Three controllers for recent documentaries. Shows such as F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman and Sex...With Mum & Dad saw critics accuse the channel of plunging to depths of sensationalism that were once the preserve of Channel 4. Despite a budget of £93.4 million in 2007/8, BBC Three has produced few hits of its own and achieved only limited success by showing episodes of several popular series before their terrestrial airings. The documentary F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman - Part of a...

Were we right or were we right when we said that the mindset of Karen Finley, the vulgarian "performance artist," had taken over the Angry Left? Check out this report from the San Francisco Chronicle: A dozen anti-war activists from Mendocino County took their tops off at high noon in San Francisco's Union Square shopping district Thursday, using what they said was their best weapon to get the public's attention. . . . Members of the Breasts Not Bombs contingent, which included seven women, three men and two young girls, said the war in Iraq is indecent, not their nakedness....

A new report recently highlighted in Ruy Teixeira's valuable Public Opinion Watch shows that one of the bright spots for the Democrats in the 2004 election was their performance among single women. The study, done by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Womens' Voices/Women Vote, showed that the "marriage gap is a defining dynamic in today's politics, eclipsing the gender gap, with marital status a significant predictor of the vote, independent of the effects of age, race, income, education or gender." As Teixeira writes, the new research shows that unmarried women, who voted overwhelmingly for Kerry, "are social and economic progressives advancing...

<p>HOWARD Leach, President Bush's ambassador to France, says the friction between America and its erstwhile ally are "in the past and now part of history." When an ambassador is so out of synch with the people he's supposed to represent, maybe it's time for him to come home. Leach needs to familiarize himself with the depth and intensity of anti-French feeling in the United States.</p>

PARIS - France held secret military exercises in order to better prepare for an eventual surrender should they ever be attacked, say officials in the government. The training exercises, which began within days after the September 11 terrorist attacks in America, focused on a coordinated effort between the French government and the military in case they are confronted by the slightest act of aggression by a foreign country. "The policy of of an immediate and unconditional surrender is not left up to chance as many would believe," says Jean-Pierre Le Carche, deputy assistant to the French U.N Envoy. "Every aspect...

January 21, 2003 France Warns U.S. It Will Not Back Early War on IraqBy JULIA PRESTON NITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 — In unusually blunt terms aimed at pre-empting the United States, France said today that it would not support any Security Council resolution for military action against Iraq in the coming weeks. France's foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, accused Washington of "impatience" in the confrontation with Baghdad over illegal weapons and added, "We believe that nothing today justifies envisaging military action." In a highly public rebuff, Mr. de Villepin would not rule out the possibility that France would use its...